Bollywood reacts to SRK's detention

Several Bollywood actors and directors lashed out at US authorities for detaining Shah Rukh Khan at a New York airport for over two hours, saying India should give it back in the same coin by subjecting American VIPs to such checks.

Several Bollywood actors and directors today lashed out at US authorities for detaining Shah Rukh Khan at a New York airport for over two hours, saying India should give it back in the same coin by subjecting American VIPs to such checks.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt said, "It is outrageous and unacceptable. This is the height of incompetence and insensitivity that such a thing happens with a superstar of a country like India. All they had to do was press a button to know who he is. I think we should do the same with their VIPs."

Veteran actress Shabana Azmi tweeted:

Indian govt shud gift ipads to USA so their immigrations can use Googleand check who they r detaining.SRK? 2nd time?Outrageous

Director Sajid Khan told PTI, "I think it is done deliberately. I don't think it is possible that people in America don't know who Shah Rukh Khan is and why he has come there, for what purpose. Even the security guards there know when a celebrity comes, so they must not act as if they don't know who he is."

Veteran lyricist and poet Javed Akhtar said, "I think he has been detained because he's called Khan and you have a history of so many people being detained like that. It is a paranoid country, a country which is trying to cope with the aftershocks of 9/11. He was detained because of his surname and not his celebrity status. Only when a celebrity is detained does the spotlight fall on such malice."

Director Atul Agnihotri, Salman Khan's brother-in-law, said, "If you detain anyone, be it Shah Rukh or even a common man without any reason then it is unfair. But if the officials have a reason for it, then we can't help it. In case of Shah Rukh, once he clarifies on it then we can say whether the detention was right or wrong."

Superstar Aamir Khan, who was at the press meet of his new TV show, was asked if he has faced a similar detention while travelling abroad.